CO-ORDINATORS

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Maggie Fussell

Coordinator

Maggie Fussell was born in Zambia and came to South Africa at the end of 1969. She attended school in Johannesburg and then went on to do her HDE JP at JCE. Her first teaching post was at Fairways Primary School teaching Gr 2 & 3. Maggie then took a break from teaching to be at home with her 2 daughters. During that time she did various counselling qualifications as well as a Diploma in Special Education at WITS. In 2001 she went back to teaching and spent 15 very happy and rewarding years at St Mary’s School in Johannesburg. In 2011 Maggie began her journey with The Link at HA Jack Primary school as a Literacy volunteer. Working with these children and seeing the difference the program made in the children’s lives also changed her life. She left St Mary’s and focused her work on children at HA Jack who needed extra support and help. She stepped into the role of deputy coordinator of The Link in 2021 and took over as Coordinator, from Megan Maynard, in July 2022. Maggie feels very honoured and blessed to have this opportunity to work for The Link and her amazing and passionate team. The Link Literacy and Numeracy project is growing and evolving and hoping to reach children outside of the city limits. Two hours a week can truly change a child’s life but it also changes the life of the volunteer.

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Alleta Liebenberg

Literacy Coordinator

Alleta moved to Johannesburg from KwaZulu-Natal at 18, to join an audit firm. While completing her BCompt studies part-time, she moved to work as an accountant and later a risk officer at Investec Private Bank. She took time out to raise her young son while working in an ECD centre for children referred by the Department of Social Services. This is where her passion for education was fanned to a flame. While on secondment in London, they welcomed a second son. Here she joined a local school as Playground Assistant and volunteer Teaching Assistant. She also worked with local churches and charities to create Make-a-Lunch holiday clubs to fill the gap left during school holidays for children who normally receive a warm meal at school. Back in SA, she joined The Link, at first as a volunteer and then, as a Centre Manager. She took over as Literacy Coordinator in October 2021, a responsibility she does not take lightly. Her passion is to see a love for learning reignited in the children she teaches while using her lay counselling background to build their confidence in their abilities.

Constance Smith

Constance Smith

Numeracy Coordinator

Constance was born in Cape Town and moved to Johannesburg when she was 10. She has had a varied career. She’s been a copywriter and deputy creative director in advertising both in South Africa and London. She taught first year copywriting at AAA School of Advertising in Johannesburg. She is also a qualified landscape designer. She is both an artist and a ceramist with 2 exhibitions under her belt. She has been involved with a variety of charity organisations over the years. Her biggest love is service and education and with The Link she gets to combine both of those passions. She began her journey with The Link as a numeracy volunteer at HA Jack and then went on to become joint centre manager and eventually Numeracy coordinator for The Link. She has instilled this love of service into her 2 daughters who often come and help teach at HA Jack during their school and varsity holidays. They love it as much as she does.

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Linda Bradfield

Marketing

Linda qualified as a Foundation Phase teacher in 1975 and spent the next 45 years teaching both Foundation Phase children and Senior School children at state and independent schools. In 2010 she became the South African Microsoft Innovative teacher of the year and later in the year also the Pan-African Innovative teacher of the year. Linda has always been committed to finding new and innovative ways of making learning fun and exciting for children. This led her to become involved in the integration of technology into teaching and learning and took her to several countries around the world to hone these skills and to teach and lecture to teachers there. She heard about The Link while teaching with Maggie Fussell at St Mary’s, Waverley. Her interest in The Link grew over her last few years in teaching until her retirement in 2021. She immediately signed up as a volunteer at HA Jack School and has loved every minute. Towards the end of 2022, she was offered the opportunity to become the Marketing Coordinator of The Link.

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Joan Donet

Administrator

Joan was born and educated in East London. She is married to Graham and mother to two beautiful daughters, and grandmother to a grandson and a granddaughter.
After a presentation on The Link at the Rotary Club, it became her wish to be able to become a Literacy volunteer once she retired. The year spent at Norwood, volunteering with her husband and seeing the difference that a year of dedicated attention, even though it was only two hours a week, makes in the life of a child, completely sold her on The Link! Joan then moved to a different centre to continue her volunteering, and also offered to assist the then Coordinator with administrative tasks. Joan has been assisting as Admin Coordinator since March 2020. In 2023 she will be volunteering at a centre closer to her new home.